We have Silas!

We have had a great bonding time with Calvin. Our first day together has been wonderful! He slept well last night and we enjoyed the morning together. Calvin is very affectionate with us and is trying to please us and communicate with us. He goes to the bathroom very frequently and it's diarrhea mostly. I am trying to give him fluids and yogurt to help him stay hydrated. He doesn't act sick, and many children don't when they actually are, so it could be a bug (he did throw up in the car yesterday) or a food allergy, stress, maybe this is normal for him? I don't know. he also has a dry cough. I wonder if the orphanage had a humidifier on? I know that it's very dry here in Russia, but he never coughed when we saw him in the orphanage.



Rolling the ball with Papa.


Snow!

















In light of Calvin's cough/diarrhea, I stayed at the hotel with him while Tyler went to get Silas. The director said that for the past month, Silas has been going to the door and window looking for us. This surprised me as I didn't think he would miss us much when we were gone. Tyler said that they dressed him and he came right up to him and let him hold him. He LOVES his shoes - they light up when he walks. Tyler said that everyone was infatuated with his shoes. I guess they don't have them here in Russia.


















Silas was excited to be with his Papa, but he was afraid to get in the car. He started sucking his thumb and self soothing himself. By the time they reached the hotel, he was asleep. He worked up quite a sweat, too!




Calvin is really good with Silas. He is kind to him and shares a lot. Calvin does try to get my attention frequently, also. I understand and I try to be able to give him plenty of my time and love. To be perfectly honest, I formed a stronger bond with Calvin than Silas during our time here in Russia. I am eager to develop that same closeness with Silas, too. And I can't exactly explain that to Calvin. So wish me luck!















New brothers!















Nap time!






I was so sad to see Silas rocking himself to sleep today. It makes me cry to see such a sweet baby boy lacking in individual love from his mother. I hope to be able to fill that void in his life.
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We have Calvin!

Before I share today, I must blog about yesterday. We went to church and Dima translated for us in Sacrament meeting. I was asked to sing a song and I felt impressed to sing I FEEL MY SAVIOR'S LOVE. Ming and Fidel came to church and during the second hour, Tyler taught Ming about prayer. It was a great meeting and Tyler said that Ming has had a change of heart since we last saw her. She now believes in God and feels good when she prays. Very exciting! Then Tyler was able to explain the importance of authority for baptism to Oleg, who is investigating the church.






After church, Andre drove us to the Foutz's and I helped Sister Foutz with some computer stuff while Tyler took a nap and Elder Foutz made us a delicious dinner of chicken alfredo, green beans, salad, bread, and a pineapple upside-down cake that Sister Foutz had made. We had a great time with them and they gave us some paper products to help us with the boys in our hotel.

Fast forward to today - gotcha day for Calvin! We drove those horrible three hours on an extremely bumpy road to Vyksa. The director was very happy to see us. She is SUCH a nice lady.



She said that Calvin is doing well and very excited to see us. When he walked in, he smiled and gave me a hug and kiss and I immediately said "Mama lyubit Calvin" and he joined in with me on the second word. There is no doubt that this boy remembers us and the time we've had together.





Sveta asked him some questions for us, including "Who are these people?" - "Mama and Papa" & "Where are you going?" - he said "Home." Isn't that the sweetest thing??? We had a good talk with him and he truly seems to understand that we are adopting him and that we are his parents. He didn't seem sad about leaving, more excited than anything. But he was somber when we got in the car and drove away. He loves his director.




Sorry that it's sideways...I don't know how to fix it on my iPad. Pictures on the drive back to Nizhny Novgorod:













Halfway through the drive, we gave Calvin some juice which proved to be s big mistake. Ten minutes before we arrived at the hotel, Calvin threw up all over himself. I brought him inside and promptly stripped off his wet clothes and gave him his first shower. Then I put him in some Jammie's that we brought for him and bundled him up in a blanket and turned on some Russian cartoons.








Look at that smile! He is so cute! And he loves to color, too.






My impressions of Calvin, thus far, are that he is very happy to be with us. He loves our attention and wants our approval of everything he does from coloring to throwing a ball. It is very easy to love him. He is such a good boy.

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Church members in Nizhny Novgorod

First of all, Happy St Patrick's Day! I wore green today - and I think I was the only person in Russia to make a conscious effort in doing so. Last night we went to the game night at the church. We decided to walk there from the hotel which took 25 minutes...the ground is snowy and icy and I frequently feel like I will slip and fall. Thankfully I did not, but we called a taxi to drive us home afterwards.


We have no fridge in the hotel so we keep our milk outside the windows on the ledge. So far, no birds have stolen it.

Today was a lazy morning and afternoon, with a fun evening with church members here. Andre picked Tyler and I up around 3pm and we drove to the lower NN church building to celebrate the Relief Society's birthday. The Relief Society is a women's organization designed to serve others. It is the single largest women's organization in the world. The idea began to have a cake to celebrate and then it blossomed into a full fledge barbecue with both wards invited to attend.



People next door to the church who were beating their rugs outside.



I helped Daria and another girl to slice tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green onions, and dill - the favorite Russian herb. We listened to Adele on my phone and they said that I sing better than Adele. They are sweet girls.



RS Ladies.



The spread. I think every salad contained mayonnaise - another Russian staple.



Okay, when you go down a buffet line in the US, you start at one end of the table and work your way down. Here the people just walk up to what they what and generally just stand there eating it by the table. It took some doing to get some food and sit down. Ha ha.



Natasha and I. Isn't she gorgeous? Seriously. She looks like a model. She is such a sweetheart. I am so glad to have met her during our trips to Russia.



Sister Foutz! What would I have done without this generous, kind woman? She has helped me in so many ways and was my mom away from home here in Russia.



Above is Sister Rosenbladt, whom I met on our first trip to Russia, me, and Malina. I met Malina today for the first time. The RS had us split up into pairs and had us write a letter to the other person. Since I don't know how to speak, let alone write Russian, I had Dima write it for me. I gave it to Malina and found that she had had someone write for her in English.

The card said: I love you Jill. You a wonderful, amazing woman. You have such optimism and light. You are beautiful and it is easy to see how special you are. Love, Malina

How nice is that?! I told her that I should take her home with me and whenever I feel discouraged she can tell me all these nice things. She commented on how nice my earrings are. Back story: I have already lost one of my earrings since being here in Russia. Then this morning one of my other earrings broke. When I saw her admiring my earrings, I decided that I wasn't meant to hang on to my jewelry here in Russia, so I took out my earrings and gave them to her. She resisted, but I came off conqueror. She was happy and felt great. From that moment on, Malina was all over me! She was holding my hand, hugging me, and kissing my cheek. Tyler says the perhaps I was what she was needing today. She said I was sunshine for her.



This is Anastasia. I went to her house to paint during the second trip. She is about to take a month long trip to the USA. I am excited for her to see missionaries and visit church sites in UT.



This is Dima. He is the bishop's son. He is a high quality young man. He is getting his degree in linguistics. He speaks Russian, English, and is learning German and Mandarin Chinese. He's the one who wrote Malina's card for me. Great kid.

After the activities, we sang a hymn and closed with a prayer. Afterwards, two sisters (including Malina) came up to ask me about my singing voice. Soon I was being invited to go up and sing for everyone. Back story: when I was in Ukraine, I was given the opportunity to sing for the ward AND give a small recital at the local university in Mariupol. It was a great experience and I loved it. But, since then, I haven't had as many opportunities to sing classical music as I would like. So I prayed for an opportunity shortly before we left for Russia. And then out of the blue - here it was. As soon as I stood up and began to sing two songs, I felt the Holy Spirit with me and knew that God had answered my prayer. It was wonderful and I sang an italian piece and my favorite Rachmaninov piece. I think they enjoyed hearing the Russian. It was a great day. :)

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We made it

On Tuesday we left sunny, 85 degree FL and flew to JFK and then to snowy, 20 degree Moscow. We left JFK around 5:30pm and arrived in Moscow around 11am (I think - can't remember exactly). It was the best of our flights to Moscow yet. It wasn't as painful and the hours seemed to fly by (pun intended) and I drank a TON of water so I wouldn't be dehydrated. Alas, the fatigue was enough to give me nausea upon arrival. Before we boarded the plane in NY, we met two missionaries headed to Russia to begin their 2 year mission in Rustav - or someplace like that in Russia. It was fun to talk with them. I love missionary work - it's just easy to share the gospel of Jesus Christ when it means everything in the world to me. We also met another adoptive family. This is their third trip as well and they are adopting a 13 month old girl from Moscow. I was surprised at how inexpensive their adoption has been, especially since they are adopting a "healthy" young baby girl - $28,000 total. I had heard that adopting from Moscow and adopting a "healthy" child was about $50,000 per child. Guess that isn't correct. 

Moving on...our taxi driver was super nice and helpful during our 7 hour drive to Nizhny Novgorod. He never complained about needing to stop FOUR times so we could use the restroom. I didn't want to be dehydrated....so I drank PLENTY of water. I am thinking that we will take the overnight train back to Moscow, so I won't have to worry about finding a restroom during that long drive, since there is one on the train. If you've been following this blog for the past year, or so, you will know that I have a fear of not being able to find a restroom in foreign countries. In the US, they are everywhere! Not so here in Russia (or Taiwan or Ukraine or etc). We arrived to the hotel IBIS on Wednesday around 7-8pm and crashed. Sveta and her now husband, Nicolas, met us outside and helped us to check in and get our visas registered here at the hotel. 

Yesterday, we woke up and rested from our journey here. I haven't experienced much jetlag so far, thankfully. In the afternoon we went to begin the passport process for the boys. We were there for 3 1/2 hours and I got my fingerprints done. They lathered me up with black ink that Sveta said wouldn't come off...but it did. 

We then drove to another building to submit the passport paperwork, however, the lady was busy and said to come back tomorrow. While we were waiting, we grabbed something to eat at the cafe nextdoor:

Some sort of sweet roll (that was burned on the bottom), a bowl of borscht, some rice, fish, and a chicken kabob. Not too shabby - Tyler and I shared it. 

Views from our apartment.

So after the running around yesterday, Sveta dropped us off at the Foutz's house for dinner and to spend some time with them. We had brought them some items from the states that they couldn't find here (cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc) and they had kept some items for us so we didn't have to bring them home and then back again - blow dryer that I bought here, electric kettle, clothes for the boys, etc. Whenever I eat at the Foutz's house, I feel like I haven't left America. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and homemade bread. We introduced them to Choffy and Sister Foutz loved it. Unfortunately, Choffy isn't shipping to Russia (yet) so she'll have to wait until she comes back to the states to have it. It's too bad because Choffy is the perfect drink for this cold country. :)

The current plan is to stay in the hotel until tomorrow and then move into an apartment. On Monday, we are driving to Vyksa to pick up Calvin! And then on Tuesday we will go pick up Silas! We have been waiting 15 months for this and it's finally here. Hooray! The passports should be issued by the end of next week and then we will travel to Moscow, see a physical who will evaluate the boys and then go to the US Embassy to drop off the passports and return the following day to pick up the visas. Then we leave for the USA! 

Anna, Keith, & Iryna are doing pretty well back at home. Anna misses us but is doing okay, Keith is thrilled that we were on an airplane, and Iryna is struggling because she misses us and doesn't know how to express that other than by screaming and hitting and saying "poo-poos". It is nice to know that Danielle is doing well with the kids and that she is especially sensitive to Iryna and doesn't take her actions personally, which is so hard to do. We will skype with Anna today and that will be fun. As we learned from our 2nd trip to Russia, if we can skype with Anna daily, then she will do well in our separation. 

As always, your prayers and support and encouragement are so appreciated. We love to read your comments to hear your excitement for us in this wonderful experience. It's been a long time coming and we feel so blessed by God to be where we are today. 

Tomorrow

Welcome back, everyone. If you're just now joining us, tomorrow Tyler & I are leaving for our third trip to Russia. This time we ARE bringing Calvin and Silas home with us. Hooray! The praise be to my Father in heaven, as He has made all of this come about and we are eternally grateful for the opportunity to have these sweet boys join our family. We should be in Russia for just over 2 weeks and then return home.

As you can imagine (those of you who have done this whole international adoption thing) I've been running around like crazy getting all those last minute details done - haircut, post office, cleaning house, laundry, decorating...oh, yeah, I wanted for their rooms to be extra perfect. And I even took pictures. I'll pat myself on my own back since you're not here to do it. And I blogged them on my other blog. Click here to see the pictures and then make sure to come back here and tell me how adorable they are and how talented I am and how you've never EVER seen anything so cute, etc, etc, etc. Go ahead. I'll just wait here.

If you're reading this, that means you have seen the pictures, right? Good. So, I am picking up Danielle from the airport today and then we will leave tomorrow morning. I am not feeling as nervous this time around. Perhaps it's because 2 months ago I was in Russia. Before then, it had been 9 months since our trip and I was trying to get everything ready for the kids and Danielle, etc. I know this time not to have the kids accompany us to the airport, as I was a blubbering disaster saying goodbye to them. I'll just send them off to school and be sure I get all the blubbering out of the way in the shower before the airport. And this trip will only be 2 weeks long, instead of 3 1/2 weeks (2nd trip) or 4 weeks (1st trip). And there's no court, nothing that will stand in our way or could prevent those boys from becoming ours.

I have been gearing the kids up for our leaving and been giving them extra long snuggles and love. Before our second trip, I videoed myself singing the bedtime songs that I sing every night. Danielle said they watched it every evening before bed during the second trip. At least they will hear my voice each night, even if I can't be there to snuggle them, too. In a few weeks, I will be snuggling 5 kids each night and singing them songs. I can't wait.

As for the process during this trip (just for you, Mom), here it is. We will fly in to Moscow, ride the taxi to Nizhny Novgorod, stay in a hotel, get our visas registered that night. Next morning, head to an office to begin the process for passports for the boys. Wait a week. Pick up passports and boys and head to Moscow where the boys will be thoroughly examined by a doctor and then we'll go to the US Embassy to drop off paperwork, then return the next day to pick up paperwork. Then we are free to leave Russia and come home. The boys will be legally ours when we leave Russia. As for when we will actually pick up the boys during this trip...I am not certain. Technically, the orphanages can hand them over immediately upon our arrival, since the 30 days are up. We shall see what they decide to do. I still need to learn what medications they are on, if any, and get their schedules written down (naps, food aversions, allergies, if any, etc).

If there are any of you reading this blog and you are beginning your adoption or thinking about international adoption, I would be happy to answer any questions (provided that I know the answers). Feel free to comment here or email me at jilldpierce @ yahoo . com (remove the spaces).

3rd trip preparations

So we leave in just a few more days for Russia. This will be our third (and last) trip to Nizhny Novgorod and we will be bringing our boys home this time. Hallelujah! Because it has taken so long to finally get to this point - it will be 15 months total from the time we started the home study to bringing the boys home - I have been repressing the feelings of excitement of having the boys home. No more. I am full of joy knowing that 3 weeks from now I will have 2 new sons in my family, under my roof, in my loving care. I have been nesting like crazy. Once I got clothes and shoes organized for Calvin & Silas, I have moved on to organizing other parts of the house, too. We are moving back to OH in August, and so I figure that anything I can do now to be better organized will prove helpful towards that move.

I must say that this adoption has been quite expensive. I know that many of you readers have adopted or are in the process of adoption. Talking about expenses in adoption seems to be not found on most blogs - or, at least, I have never read how much it costs on the many adoption blogs that I follow - but I don't have a problem with sharing total costs here. I think it's important to know how much the process costs to bring a child from Ukraine or Russia into your home. With our Keith & Iryna, we paid $33,000 to bring them home and we are still paying on that adoption. With Calvin and Silas, it will be about $55,000 to bring them home. We were anticipating it to be around $50,000, so needless to say, money is quite tight right now. I am trying to focus on the joy of this adoption, but lately the financial aspect is getting me down. I am praying for God to open the heavens and to bless us with financial miracles or opportunities to bring in more income, such as my Choffy business.

I do want to share a sweet story from my day yesterday. I went to the commissary to buy some groceries and when I went through the checkout, I was pleased to see Santina as my checker. I have spoken with her a few times before about our adoption and she was happy to hear that we leave next week for Russia. And then she said that if we could use some groceries after we come home that she would be happy to help us. I was blown away by her kindness. I have only spoken with her a few times. I became emotional and had to reign myself in so I wouldn't cry.

Another quick story, I was at Iryna's school talking with the nurse, Loretta. Loretta's boss was there going through inventory. Loretta mentioned that I was adopting two special needs children from Russia. Her boss became emotional and began to cry, saying how special of a person I was for doing this. I, of course, became emotional, too. People tell me that what we're doing is wonderful and that we are special people, but I don't regard myself as being any better than anyone else. God has called me to adopt special needs and I have answered his call, and we have been so blessed in doing so.

Crisis Averted

And so...we were looking through our documents to be prepared for our third trip to Russia and...our home study expires on March 22nd...which is before we would have the boys at the US Embassy in Moscow. We were concerned that this meant we would need to update our home study which is expensive ($500+) and we didn't know if it could even be done prior to our scheduled flight to Russia ($250 per plane ticket to change the date - 4 flights total) and this was weighing heavily on both Tyler and I. It was almost all consuming. We are getting close to our $50,000 money mark and with all this extra cost, it was more than we thought we could bear. But, we got the news yesterday that we don't need our home study for our visit to the US Embassy. What a blessing. God has truly blessed us. We can breathe freely, knowing that we leave in less than 2 weeks to bring home our boys. Thank you for your continued support! :)